The Forest
by Phoenix122333
Summary: Jason, the son of the famous Beet and Poala, escapes his village in a fit of frustrated anger. Not long after that, a young Vandal finds him sprawled in a clearing...


I grumbled to myself as I trudged through the woods outside the village, pushing branches and foliage out of my face. "I am _too_ old enough to become a Buster...I'll show them...", I grumbled as I stomped through the undergrowth. I had tried to join the Vandal Busters earlier that day, but the Elder said I needed to be at least 16. It was just a month away! "Stupid restrictions…Stupid Dad for _making _the restrictions..", I sighed as I came to a clearing, and decided to stop and catch my breath. I laid down and looked up at the clouds, smiling slightly as a sense of peace stole over me. I sang some songs to myself in my head and traced some patterns in the dirt. It was after my fifth song when I became aware of the sound of someone sneaking up on me...on all fours. "Lovely.", I called out, "You're going to kill a defenseless little human. That's sure to earn you a paint fleck from a star.".

I heard an annoyed groan as a Vandal, no taller than me, fought his way out of the brush. His black hair almost hid his cat ears of the same color, and there was a little hole in his pants for his tail, but otherwise he was human-looking. A cute human. I found my thoughts wandering to places they probably shouldn't have. I shook my head, righted my mind, and asked, "So, kitty cat, any particular reason you're sneaking up on little old me?". Inside, I was quivering in fear, but I wasn't about to let him know that. He narrowed his eyes and growled threateningly, "Don't make me kill you.". I arched my back to form a bridge and looked at him upside-down. "You're not gonna kill me anyways? Gee, thanks kitty! You're a rabid dog amongst wolves!". "Stop calling me that!", he roared, and I shushed him furiously. "Be quiet!", I hissed, "You might attract a Vandal, and you know as well as I do that he won't hesitate to kill both of us! And if I can't call you Kitty, what _can_ I call you?".

He straightened up and said proudly, "Terum.". I smiled, still upside down, and said, " Nice to meet you, I'm Jason.". I lowered myself back down and stared up at the clouds again, trying to predict Terum's next move. I heard a thump and froze. Despite his no-doubt careful creeping, I heard his feet tread lightly on the ground, followed closely by the sound of skin hitting grass. So, he was creeping towards me on all fours. Was I scared? Absolutely. He came up beside me, and I felt my heart stop. Then, with a sigh, he laid down. My heart restarted. "It's been a long time since I could just... relax.", he said happily. Meanwhile, my jaw was hanging open. He glanced over at me and pushed it up, saying, "Don't let your mouth hang open like that. Spiders will start getting ideas.". I laughed in spite of myself, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Terum smile. I considered my next words carefully.

"You're...not like other Vandals, are you?", I asked, and he looked at me sharply. I hurriedly continued, "Any other Vandal would have turned me into a stain on the ground and would have been done with it.". He looked at me shrewdly and countered with, "And any other human would have come at me, sword flailing.". "True.", I conceded, then pondered, "What have our races gotten into?". Terum looked at me questioningly. "I mean, this war has been fought since before my grandparents were born, with numerous casualties on both sides, and for what? Control of the planet? By the time this war is over, there might not be a planet left to control!". Terum gazed at me, wide-eyed, and I was afraid I had offended him somehow. Then he said, "You're right. How are you so wise beyond your years?". I shrugged and said, "My parents are pretty good homeschool teachers, but don't tell them I said that. They have pretty inflated egos already.". Terum laughed and my heart jumped. 'Score! A laugh!', I thought.

He then asked, "What are their names, so I know them if I see them?'. "Beet and Poala.", I said, without thinking. My eyes widened, and I rolled away as a hand came down where my head used to be. Terum was transformed. His fur was bristling, his eyes were slits, and he had grown three inch claws. "Beet and Poala, ", he spat, ", are the most feared and cursed names in Vandal society!", and lunged toward me. I dodged, and he sank his claws in a tree instead. Trying to wrench them out, he unconsciously jerked his midsection this way and that. His hips were wiggling all over the place, and despite my imminent doom, I found my mind, again, going places it shouldn't have. That's when a gigantic shadow was cast in front of me. My eyes widened as I slowly turned around. There, toting a sword that was as big as I was tall, stood my father. "Good job, son!", he exclaimed, striding toward Terum and looking him over. I hesitantly followed him over. Dad ran his hand over Terum's tail, ears, and claws.

Terum tried to bite him. "That is not helping your case.", I hissed to him, then blinked in confusion. Why was I helping him, the Vandal that just tried to kill me? Did I...want him to live? I thought it over for barely a second before reaching a decision. Yes. Yes I did. I focused back on my Dad, who was leaning down to inspect Terum's...the base of his tail. I felt my face heating up as I pushed Dad away. He looked at me questioningly, and I glared and said, "Some things are private. Even for a Vandal.". He looked at me for a moment, then nodded slowly and turned back to Terum. "So Vandal, how do you want to die?", he asked, and my eyes widened in alarm. Dad didn't notice. "Cut in half, run through, or burned alive?", he continued obliviously. Terum merely growled, so Dad exclaimed, "Cut in half it is!", and raised his sword high. I quickly lunged forward and stopped him. "Uh...can, uh...can I do it? Please?", I asked him, flashing my puppy dog eyes.

His arms lowered involuntarily as the eyes took hold. "Oh, uh... sure, son...", he faltered, holding the hilt out to me after a brief pause. I stepped up beside Terum, and his head turned to regard me coldly. I regarded him sadly and said, raising the sword high, "Let this be a lesson to you, Vandal...". He closed his eyes. I felt the pull of a smile, and my lips twitched as I said, "Not all humans are bad!". His eyes shot open as I cleaved through his claws. He stared at me for a moment before scampering off. I took a deep breath and turned around to face my father. He looked furious. "Um...I missed?", I asked. "Nice try.". I groaned, and then stated weakly, "Let's be honest. You'd be disappointed if I didn't try.". He raised an eyebrow, and then reluctantly admitted, "True. Now let's go.", grabbing my arm and dragging me back to the village.

* * *

"You let him get away. ON PURPOSE! What do you have to say for yourself!?", Mom screamed at me. "He was nice!", I pleaded. "Nice? NICE!? HE TRIED TO KILL YOU!", she screamed. "Only because he found out you guys were my parents!", I countered, and my mother threw her hands up. "He would have killed you anyway.", my father said gently, but then I turned on him and said angrily, "Well, I guess you weren't spying on me long enough to see us just watching the clouds. No killing involved! Not even a little maiming! But my STUPID heritage just had to ruin it...". Dad chose ignored that last part and said, "The Vandal was just trying to trick you.". I thought about it for a second, recounting the events of that afternoon. "No...I don't think he was.", I said, "Because if he was, he could have just killed me right away". I nodded slowly, then more certainly, saying, "No, I don't believe he was tricking me.". My parents were regarding me warily as I came to this conclusion, but as soon as I voiced it, they launched into another tirade. I sighed - this was going to be a long day.

* * *

They had stopped their lecture around dusk, saying they were too tired to keep it up and that they were going to resume in the morning. Joy. I trudged upstairs, closed my door, and flopped onto my bed with a sigh. Why couldn't they understand that Terum was different? That just because he was a Vandal, doesn't mean he was violent and destructive? After thinking for some time, I concluded that they were racist. Eh. I rolled over, and my back jabbed into something under my mattress. A laser pointer. I had bought it to test how far the light went, and then got distracted by ice cream. What better time for a test than now, with no ice cream in sight? I snatched it up and went to my window, pressing the button and shining it into the direction of the forest. My house was on the edge of town, and my room in the attic, so I had a clear view.

The beam reached the edge of the foliage. Talk about powerful! I played with the beam for a while, swinging it this way and that, and I found myself thinking of Terum. Where was he? What was he doing? And most importantly of all...did he like me? All these questions and more plagued my overtired mind as I watched the hypnotic dot swing back and forth, a glowing trail following it. I was about to turn the pointer off when I spotted movement at the edge of the forest. I fumbled around for some binoculars and pressed them to my face. A shaking bush came into view, and peering out from between the leaves were two glowing eyes. They were trained on the dot. I nudged the beam slightly to the left, and the eyes followed. I had the dot there for about two seconds when suddenly, out of the bush, pounced Terum. I instinctively swung the dot away from him, and he thumped down on empty earth. He pouted slightly and jumped at the dot again.

A smile tugged at my lips as, again and again, I jerked the dot away from him as he pounced at it. I led him atop a low rock, around a tree, and through some bushes. He stubbornly refused to give up chasing the dot, even when I shone it high up on a tree trunk. He just sank his claws into the bark and began climbing. I swung the dot back to the ground, and he pounced on it from the top of the tree. I noticed, with a smile, that he landed on his feet. I bit my lip to stop from laughing and infused the laser with the Divine Power of Light, using it to write on the ground a glowing message: Having fun Terum?.

I immediately knew something was wrong. He simply stopped, his head tilted as he regarded the light curiously. And then he looked at me. Not just toward the town, not just toward the source of the laser, but right into my eyes. And he started walking toward me. I backed away from the window, panicked. "Alright, Jason, ", I said to myself, ", get ahold of yourself. It's only a powerful and most likely ticked off Vandal walking towards you. He might not know about the hole in the wall.". Might didn't help my nerves.

Then, I had an idea. Maybe, if I pretended to be asleep, he'd leave me alone! ...Ok, admittedly, it wasn't the best plan, but it was better than getting my parents up and condemning Terum to death. I crossed to my bed, quickly lay down, narrowed my eyes to slits, and pulled the covers up to my chin. I took a moment to settle into a comfortable position and regulate my breathing. Not a moment too soon, too, for a second later Terum jumped into my window. He quietly stepped down from the sill and padded over to me. He eyed my sleeping form, the steady rise and fall of my chest, and the binoculars on the floor by the window suspiciously, stooping down and sniffing the floor. I almost sighed in relief as he turned to go, but before I could relax, he turned back around, kneeled down in front of the bed, and rested his smiling face in his hands. "I almost bought it..., ", he whispered, ""But I could see your eyes moving behind your eyelids.". I groaned, opened my eyes, and said, "Darn, caught.".

"So, what are you doing in the scary human town?", wiggling my fingers. He huffed and said, "You know, it's the strangest thing. I was out in the forest when I saw this red light on the ground. So, naturally, I got curious and started chasing it, but no matter how fast I went, I couldn't catch it. Then, the strangest thing happened. The light wrote out, 'Having fun Terum?', on the ground. Isn't that strange?". "Yeah, that is strange, ", I said, feigning innocence, ", but I don't see what that has to do with me.". Terum laughed and said, "Au contraire, Jason, I think you do.", he said smugly, holding up the laser pointer. "Oh. That. Uh, right, well, you see, that's a very popular human toy, available at almost any store in the city. Easy to get.", I explained nervously. Terum considered this for a moment, and my hopes soared. Then he said, "That may be true, but your house is the only one with a clear shot to the forest.".

I stared at him for a second before saying in a deadpan voice, "Curse you real estate agency.". Terum chuckled and my heart fluttered. Another laugh! Now if only I could keep him from killing me... "Hey, Terum?", I asked nervously, and he made a questioning noise. "Are you… still mad at me for being Beet and Poala's son?", I asked worriedly. He blinked at me and said, "No. We don't choose our family". I smiled at him and said, "Well, good. Because I really wanna be your friend Terum.". He looked at me, and I saw his eyes up close for the first time. 'I've always loved the color hazel.', I thought absently. My own eyes were a sapphire blue, which went well with my brown hair. "Not so fast, Jason. I may not be mad at you for your parents, but there's still the question of the laser light torture.", he said mischievously. I chuckled nervously and stuttered, "W-What are you planning on d-doing to me?".

He put a finger on his chin and said absently, "Good question... Ooh!... No, that would arouse suspicion... Aha!...Nuh-uh. I'd most likely be run through with swords... That idea's always there, but there's no way I could get that many fireworks and that much maple syrup by tomorrow...". He continued like this for the better part of an hour, while I tried to figure out what he would need maple syrup and fireworks for. I shuddered at each new idea. That's when it started. A cacophony of shouting and clanging arose from the direction of the forest. We strode to the window and looked out to see a small group of weak-looking Vandals trudging towards town, all of them shouting Terum's name. They were looking for him! "Shall we run for our lives?", I asked him pleasantly, and he replied graciously, "Oh yes, let's.". We dashed out of the room and, signaling for Terum to hide, I slowly crept into my parents' room. "Uh, guys? Guys!", I whispered, then yelled. I huffed.

"Sorry Dad, but you've forced my hand.", I muttered, then said loudly, "Oh, look, it's Milfa in nothing but some lace underpants.". Dad sat up and yelled, "WHERE!?", which woke up Mom. She smacked him. I sighed in exasperation and said, "Look, I know you guys have some important marriage issues to work out, but there is a group of Vandals heading straight for town.". My parents stared at me before flying into motion. They pulled on their gear, grabbed their weapons, and raced out the door. "Three seconds.", I mused before following. I looked around for Terum, sighing in relief as he came down the stairs from my room. "Okay, now we just need to get you out of here.", I said, leading him down to the front door. I poked my head out, looked around, and opened the door wider. Signaling to Terum, I crept around my house to the long strip of ground that ran behind the houses. There was nobody there. I waved to Terum again and we started running, cutting across the street every so often.

Finally, we reached the Symbol, left on the south wall ages before by a female Vandal called Lady Rodina. After many careful experiments, I succeeded in opening a portal using a small portion of the Divine Power of Light, disguised as the Dark Power of Sorcery. I had since visited many locations that Rodina had also marked, including a secluded cave on the side of a bluff which overlooked the ocean. I planned to hide Terum there. I waved my hand in front of the symbol, and a swirling vortex of darkness materialized. I pushed Terum through, said, "I'll get you when it's safe.", and closed the portal, Already racing towards the gate, I gathered the Power of Wind under my feet and jumped, soaring over the wall to land gracefully beside my parents. My Dad and another human-looking Vandal, a woman, were arguing about Terum. "I don't care where you saw him last!", Dad was saying, "I'm telling you, your son Terum isn't in our town!". He glanced over at me and asked, "Right?".

My gaze instantly hardened, and I said icily, "Sparing the life of a defenseless Vandal and letting a Vandal into the city are two totally different things.". He stared at me a moment longer before turning back to Terum's mother and saying, "There is no Vandal in our city. Leave, before we resort to force.", raising his sword threateningly. I glared at him and stepped toward the Vandal. "I am sorry about your son, miss. If we see him, we'll send up a Divine Flare. ...Um, what exactly does he look like?", I asked, making sure this wasn't some hoax. She rattled off Terum's description perfectly. I nodded, smiled warmly, and said, "Thank you. We'll be sure to contact you if we see anything." A grateful look on her face, the Vandal and her entourage left. "And that, ", I said to my parents, ", is how you placate a distressed Vandal.". My Father stared at me, opened his mouth, thought better of it, then turned and opened the gate. We slipped through and went back to the house.

An hour later, when I was sure my parents were asleep again, I slipped out of bed, padded down the stairs, and made my way over to the Symbol. I opened the portal and stepped through to see Terum sleeping against the wall. His tail twitched as I closed the portal. I tiptoed over to him, crouched down beside him, and started shaking his shoulder. "Terum...hey, Terum...Terum!", I whisper-yelled into his ear. He didn't budge. I growled and shook harder. Still nothing. I narrowed my eyes at him, then smiled as inspiration struck. "Hey look, it's Lady Rodina wearing dental floss underpants.", I whispered. Again, nothing. I raised an eyebrow, then tried something else. "Oh, isn't that Noah the Vandal Scholar wearing nothing but a book?", I asked, and Terum immediately shouted, "Where!?". I gave him an amused look as he realized what he'd said. He stared at me, trying to decipher my expression, and after a minute he seemed to reach a conclusion. Instead of smiling sheepishly, however, he started to cry!

The amused expression on my face turned to a concerned one as he hung his head, his body racked with sobs. I sat down beside him and put and arm around his shoulders, asking, "What's the matter Terum?". He looked up at me, then buried his face into my chest, sobbing, "It's b-bad enough I'm a Vandal, b-b-but a gay Vandal? You probably hate me!". "That would be very hypocritical of me.", I said dryly, making a split-second decision, "Considering I'm gay myself.". He slowly turned his face up to look at me and asked, in a small voice, "R-Really?''. I nodded with a small smile. His look of despair transformed into one of hope for a few moments before it became dejected again. "You're just saying that to make me feel better!", he concluded, burying his face in my chest again, but it didn't take a genius to see that there weren't any tears this time. He was faking. He was being dramatic. He was...looking for proof. I twitched, regarding the top of his head with a deadpan look before lifting his chin with a single finger. "Am I?", I asked, and he bit his lip and nodded. I raised an eyebrow, and with a single muttering of, "Really?", I pressed my lips to his.

He was expecting this, I could tell. He immediately wrapped his arms around my neck, pressing himself closer to me. I wrapped my arms around his waist, able to feel his tail slowly swishing from side to side. He pulled back after a moment and rested his forehead against mine, licking his lips before saying, "What would your parents say?", and I pretended to consider it before answering, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.". He thumped my head at the quote, but his quiet snickering ruined it. I smiled at him a moment before my eyes widened. "That reminds me!", I exclaimed, jumping up quickly, "The Vandals coming towards the city? It was your Mom, looking for you!". His eyes widened, and I helped him up before we both crossed to the Symbol.

Besides figuring out how to open them, I had also puzzled out how to brand something with the Light version of the Symbol. I had created multiple escape routes to the outside of the city, and so we stepped out of a tree, just inside the forest. "Alright, so, you'll go back to...where ever you live, and I won't send up a Divine Flare. That way, your Mom won't suspect us humans of Vandalnapping you. Okay?", I verified, and Terum nodded before waving goodbye and turning towards the interior of the woods. I caught his shoulder and pulled him around, kissing him again. This one was shorter than the first, and it was only after I pulled back that I noticed something. "No fair, being taller than me.", I pouted, and he smirked in victory. I rolled my eyes and pushed him away by the forehead, waving as he bounded back to the forest, and when I couldn't see him I turned and walked out of the South Wall portal. I snuck back inside, tucked myself under the covers, and closed my eyes. Only as I was falling asleep did I realize that Terum never gave me back my laser pointer.


End file.
